Kyle McMahon – Why I’ve Forgiven My Father (via Huffington Post)

Kyle McMahon – Why I’ve Forgiven My Father (via Huffington Post)

Huffington Post – Kyle McMahon “Why I’ve Forgiven My Father”

“When you forgive, you in no way change the past — but you sure do change the future.” — Bernard Meltzer

I’ve talked at length about my biological father’s choice to leave before I was born as well as the repercussions his decision has had on my life. In the past year, I’ve heard thousands and thousands of stories from other fatherless sons and daughters, single mothers and fathers and even some from the fathers themselves. With each and every story, I hear anger, sadness and pain. I hear about the lack of self esteem, the shame and the trust issues that so often come from parental abandonment. I see a whole lot of people holding on to a whole lot of hurt. The most transformational thing that I’ve done for me, besides realizing that it had nothing to do with me (Thanks, Ms. Oprah and Ms. Iyanla), was to forgive him. While a year ago it seemed like it was an impossibility, forgiveness has been the key to setting me free.